Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Dream Big Or Go Home....

I really had no idea that eleven little words could open up so many doors, but I guess anything is possible if your being called toward your purpose, whatever that may be...



This was just one of the 4 Costco carts and 2 big  orange things we filled up.
  "I have a passion for cooking and a heart for serving"....that's all I said. Then I was asked to cook a meal for 350 people. My first instinct was to say "YES!!! Of course!!!" Then I would probably get nervous later.
Funny thing, I never really got nervous, just excited. This just felt right.



It turned out that we only needed to cook for 250, but we had LOTS of extra just in case...So the Friday before the "big night", my friend, her daughter, and I started prepping. First we thawed the chicken then washed and dried it. Next was salt, pepper, and olive oil for all 250 chicken breasts!!
 

Then we roasted and shredded....all day.
 



Lots of chopping, 60lbs mushrooms and about 80 large onions. Oh and I almost forgot the 300 or so cloves of garlic.
We hand chopped all of it...I didn't even think about my food processor until we were almost done!! Live and learn.
 


  

Finally the big night had arrived. ( it actually started about noon for us) Thankfully, today I had lots of help. Still, if my  friends had not volunteered their time to spend hours with me prepping before hand this dinner wouldn't have happened. Thank you Cassie, Candi and Alison:)
 

I can't tell you how awesome it was to have more help in the kitchen, especially  all of these girls. Everyone sort of just took on a roll and everything ran smoothly!
 

What a blessing it is to work with your hands, and to prepare food for people who volunteer their time to help others.
 

Well, almost done, just bake and dress the salad...oh and serve! Did I mention we only had 3 working ovens and around 60 loafs of bread to cook too? Along with all of those casseroles? And I thought we would run out of food!
 
 

I just had to add a touch of cuteness!! This sign was at the beginning of the buffet line. At the end by the drinks was a little chalkboard rooster that said enjoy!
 Time for the moment of truth...did it taste good??
 


Of course it did!! We made it:) And I made sure we tasted each pan that came out of the oven.
CHEERS!! Thank you ladies from the bottom of my heart...I couldn't have done it with out each of you.
 
All in all it was a huge success. I was so happy to have taken on this challenge and prove to myself that with a little determination and a few good friends almost anything is possible. I'd say we were the perfect team.
 
This was the mess we were unfortunately left with. Our clean up crew  never showed. I wasn't looking forward to this part, I was exhausted and ready to leave. But the coolest thing happened, some of the volunteer's we cooked for came back and offered to help. Even the pastor of the church and his wife rolled up their sleeve's...people were in semi-formal wear doing the dishes! It just made me feel even more honored to be able to cook and serve people like this.
 Last night I was lying awake in bed thinking about this dinner and thought, "if I can do this, then whats next?" Was I being called towards a purpose greater than me? Was this dinner the stepping stone to a different path?
Maybe...I guess I will just have to wait and see. After all,with God anything is possible.
So for now I think I'll dream big.

4 comments:

  1. I wish I could have taken a picture of the end result- the salad was beautiful and the pasta had a creamy white sauce blended in with fresh herbs...yum! I was too busy to stop and take a pic, just use your imaginations!

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  2. Wow, hearing you describe this and then reading about it on your blog just amazes me. That is some talent girl! It was great talking to you last night!

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  3. Thank you!!! It was great talking with you as well. I can't wait to read your blog:)

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